Mystery of the Bride

Part 7

Vicky Moots

If you were to have chest surgery similar to what Adam had, which required the removal of a portion of a rib (most likely the fifth rib), you would experience a very painful post-op recovery period. Why is that? What would make it so painful? Do you recall that I stated previously that there is a nerve that runs in a groove underneath each rib? Well, to remove a portion of a rib would require cutting through that nerve twice, leaving raw nerve fibers on each end. There is, of course, no pain during the surgery because the body is asleep, but when you wake up, you are in extreme pain each time you move or take a breath.

  

Adam would also have experienced severe pain as a result of the surgery which God used to prepare him a bride. This has important spiritual significance, for Christ, the last Adam, likewise experienced severe pain in order to have a bride.  He had to endure the suffering of the cross.

Heb. 12:2 reveals to us the reason that Jesus was able to endure such agony: “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…” What was the joy which He looked forward to? What could possibly bring Him so much joy that it would enable Him to look beyond His sufferings? I believe it was more than just knowing that the work of redemption would be accomplished. I believe that He, like the first Adam, looked forward to the joy of having a bride.

So, we see that both Adam and Christ had to endure suffering and bear scars in their bodies in order to have a bride. What about the bride of Christ? Will she suffer also? The apostle Paul had a desire to know Christ more intimately and was willing to suffer for Him and with Him.  He stated in Phil. 3:10, “That I may know him…and the fellowship of his sufferings…”

He wanted to actually enter into the emotional sufferings that Jesus experienced, which included the pain of being hated and rejected, as well as being betrayed, denied and deserted by His friends when He needed them the most. Jesus also experienced the frailty and pain of a human body that was beaten beyond all recognition and the emotional pain of bearing the weight of all our sins.

It wasn’t because Paul wanted to suffer. He simply wanted to know Jesus so intimately that he could understand and share His pain with Him.  When you love someone deeply, you are able to experience the pain that they experience.  When they hurt, you hurt, for you have become one with them. This is the true heart of a bride who is united with her Bridegroom.

But after the cross, comes the crown. Paul warned Timothy that he would have to suffer many things, just as he did for peaching the gospel, but also told him that there would one day be a reward.  He stated in II Tim. 2:12, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us [the right to reign].” This is not referring to salvation, only to reigning with Christ.

In Eph. 5:31, Paul states, “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.” This is quoted from Gen. 2:24 regarding Adam and Eve becoming one. In Genesis we see that Adam was not joined unto his whole body, for Eve was only a small part of him, a rib, which was separated out from the rest of his body and then specially prepared by God’s hand and presented back to him, to be joined again to his side, and once again become a part of him.

And so, it is with Christ and His body, the church. Christ was willing to leave His Father and His home in heaven in order to become a man and to be joined to His bride; but he will be joined only to those believers who have yielded to the cutting, the separation and the preparation to become a bride. The espousal and the opportunity to become the bride of Christ is open to all who will respond to the wooing of the Holy Spirit as He calls us to live a life that is separated unto Christ alone.